One of the biggest issues living in Austria is that you tend to visit EVERYTHING around it (Prague, Budapest, Krakow, Munich...) I mean... I can't be happier about it's location. But the thing is, Austria is so damn beautiful that not seeing it is the biggest sin of all! Thankfully, in the course of two weeks, I did two trips: Salzburg + Hallstatt (with my roommate on Halloween), and Salzburg + Innsbruck (with my bf). Double Salzburg is double the fun <3 !
Salzburg is a small city, where all of the attractions are really close to each other and you can see most of them in 6-7 hours if you really take your time.
When I went with Sofia (my roomie) we stayed at Yoho Hostel, but since we got a room for 2 instead of sharing a big room with 4-6 people we had to pay more (72€/person for 2 nights). I can definitely say the hostel was clean and comfortable, but when I visited with my boyfriend we decided to get an apartment through AirBnb, and that was even cheaper for two people (25€/person+night). So... if you're a big group going to a hostel may be a better option, but if you're not then definitely go for an apartment.
When I went with Sofia (my roomie) we stayed at Yoho Hostel, but since we got a room for 2 instead of sharing a big room with 4-6 people we had to pay more (72€/person for 2 nights). I can definitely say the hostel was clean and comfortable, but when I visited with my boyfriend we decided to get an apartment through AirBnb, and that was even cheaper for two people (25€/person+night). So... if you're a big group going to a hostel may be a better option, but if you're not then definitely go for an apartment.
In terms of what to visit, I think that the best route to visit Salzburg is the following:
- Mirabell Palace + Gardens
- Mozarts Wohnhaus
- River Salzach (walk on the peatonal bridge -very close to Mozart's Wohnhaus-, it's great for picture-taking!)
- Getreidegasse (take your time here, it's the cutest shopping street ever - Diagon Alley much?)
- Mozarts Geburthaus (it's a bright yellow house on Getreidegasse)
- Dom > Residenz > Domplatz > Kapitelplatz > Cemetery of St. Peter
- Festung Hohensazlburg (the fortress, where you should definitely spend at least an hour looking at the views, taking pictures and eating Sacher Torte -Viennese chocolate cake-.)
This is a route that I perfected on my second visit to Salzburg since I only had one day to show everything to my bf and I had had two days to walk around during my first visit.
Hallstatt was definitely breath-taking and all sorts of amazing. I would definitely recommend renting a car if you're visiting with more than 3 people, but if not, get the bus from Salzburg like we did (more cost-effective in that case although not cheap!) It's really worth the money though, and we were able to spend the whole day there.
We visited the whole town (it's really small so 30-50 minutes of wandering and taking lottttts of pictures in piers would be more than enough) and then we hiked up the mountain. I almost died twice during that hike, it was soooo long and we weren't equipped for hiking.
But we finally got to the top, where a restaurant awaited us and we had the best spaghetti ever... although I'm sure they only tasted that great because we were famished! After that, we took some pictures on the skywalk and then went back down with the funicular (which felt like a really steep roller-coaster track). Last but not least, we walked a little bit around the river area before catching our bus back to Salzburg.
Innsbruck was another thing entirely. Cute is the only word to describe this beautiful city. The old part of the city is even smaller and more concentrated than in Salzburg, which ensures that an hour or 2 (tops) walking around will help you see the most beautiful things.
We saw the Goldenes Dachl, the Hofburg, Domplatz, and walked around the small and cobbled streets. After that, we walked around the Inn River and tried to get the funicular to go up the mountain (it was closed for repairs for the the whole month of November -bummer!-, but it should be open by now), we caught a bus and soon we started hiking around the beautiful woods in the mountain. We were lucky and had a beautiful sunny day to enjoy the walk and the views. We spent around 3-4 hours walking around and after reaching the highest point that our legs permitted us to, we started walking back down because the sun goes down faster than we do and we didn't want to be lost in the woods by night... plus, we were soooo hungry by then! After having lunch, we drank some hot mulled wine (Glühwein in German, in case you need it) and walked around some more... and finally caught the train back to Vienna!
We saw the Goldenes Dachl, the Hofburg, Domplatz, and walked around the small and cobbled streets. After that, we walked around the Inn River and tried to get the funicular to go up the mountain (it was closed for repairs for the the whole month of November -bummer!-, but it should be open by now), we caught a bus and soon we started hiking around the beautiful woods in the mountain. We were lucky and had a beautiful sunny day to enjoy the walk and the views. We spent around 3-4 hours walking around and after reaching the highest point that our legs permitted us to, we started walking back down because the sun goes down faster than we do and we didn't want to be lost in the woods by night... plus, we were soooo hungry by then! After having lunch, we drank some hot mulled wine (Glühwein in German, in case you need it) and walked around some more... and finally caught the train back to Vienna!
Ever visited any of these cities? Would you?
<3
M.
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